Back by POPULAR demand, Toree McGee will be joining us for a second installation at Myers Manor. She is blessed with a rafter-reaching soprano range and a voice that emanates grit and fire, Toree McGee describes her music as a blend of “Woodstock rock ‘n’ roll, and sparkly country.” This eclectic style is equal parts percussion-driven swagger and playful melodies. Behind the northern California native’s powerful, edgy vocals is a candid, bubbly personality, along with a natural, effervescent stage personality inherited from a family lineage filled with performers.
Her musical style embodies elements of her influences, ranging from the soulful country sounds of The Judds and LeAnn Rimes, to the rock of Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith, and especially the engrossing vocals of Janis Joplin. “I was a really big fan of Janis Joplin for a long time,” McGee says. “I loved her uniqueness and how you could feel her emotion when she sang. But the whole rock ‘n’ roll kind of jagged edge thing wasn’t really me all the way. I always had a sunshiny personality, and I wasn’t as hardened as the rock scene was. Country music always made me happy, and everything always brought me back to that.”
McGee laid down tracks in Nashville for her latest EP at famed studio Ronnie’s Place, alongside musicians who have performed with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, among others. Her current single, “Amen” has been gaining airplay on Northern California radio stations and has recently climbed to the #1 slot on 95.3 KRTY’s ‘Hot 9 @ 9’ segment. It has also gained the attention of Sirius/XM radio, as well as local news stations which will soon be featuring her music and story. McGee also had her first big act accompanying performance, opening with a 30 minute set for country music superstar, Clay Walker in San Jose, followed by another opening slot for rising stars A Thousand Horses. Her single off her self-titled EP, “Amen” was released on March 31, 2015. Her full EP was officially released in October 2015.
“I wanted to blend my love of hard rock and country together,” McGee says of the project. “I have this heavy-hitting, gravelly tone I can get in my voice, and I didn’t want to lose that side of me that played in bars and grew up in bars. But country has always been my favorite genre of music. That’s where I want to be, but I want to bring a bit of that old style of rock with me.”
